Spring



July 21, 1925. 1,547,113

E. A. FOSTER SPRING Filed July 6, 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORATTORNEY WITNESS:

July 21,1925.

E. A. FOSTER SPRING 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 F1164, July 1 Jul 21, 1925.

E. A. FOSTER SPRING 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jul 26, 1924 wrrusss:

1 of bars and which, at the center thereof, are

Patented July 21, 1925.

UNITED ESTATES i EDWARDA. FOSTER, O EY BE WIA LBANY, TEXAS.

.i srnme.

Application filed Jul 26 1924; Serial No. 728,397;

To all whom it may 0mm; p c Be it knownthatI, EDWARD A."FosrER, acitizen .of the United 'States,' residing at Ibex, :via Albany, in thecounty of Shackle ford and State of Texas; ha'VeLinVen'te'd new anduseful lmprovementsiin' Springs, of which the following is aspecification My present: invention has reference to springs forvehicles, especially I for auto-- mobiles.

' My object is to construct a full elliptical,

semi-elliptical or quarter-elliptical spring whose leaves are madeup-each of a plurality V of bars connected together in such a manner asto'hold'all of the leaves in proper alignmentand of such constructionand arrangement as to not only absorb the vertical shocks to which thebo'dylof the veliicleis thereb etween; broken, [and also wherein meanscompr sing clips of a novel construction are employed for iholding allof the leaves in proper alignment.-

' A still further object is the production of a vehicle spring whoseleaves are made up bent outwardly at opposite angles to receivetherebetween' substantially diamond-shaped spacer blocksthrough'w'hichthe tieibolt, passes, so that the leaves'at the center therenot beweakened b-y'forming openof will ings therethrough' A still furtherobject is the production of a vehicle spring whose leaves are made up ofbars, the series o-fbars' constltuting the separate leaves are soarranged as to'break the o ints therebetween' provided by the jcon-Vfronting barsQ and likewise, whereinthe outer bars of the severalleavesare coiled or rounded upon themselves to provide eyes rel-Q ceivedinclipscof a novel construction and;

through whichthesecuring bolts pass.

,lVith the above broadly-stated objects view and others which willappear as the nature of the inventioniis better understood,

reference is to be had to the drawings which accompanyandwhichformpart'of this ap-' I plication;

In the-drawings:

mobile provided with the improvement F igure is a side elevation-of asemi-ellip ticalsprlng in accordance with this HIV 611 tion, the axle toin section. j I

'FigureB is a top-plan view, thereof. "Figure't is a bottom-planviewthereof.

which it is connected being F iguref) is a central transverse sectionalview through the spring.-

6+6 of Figure 2; Figure 7 is a sectional 7- 7 of'Figure 6.

Figure 8 the'clips',

Figure 9 is a similar viewofa of superimposed. spacer blocks.

Figure 6 is a sectional View on the line, i

Figure 10 is a perspective view looking.

toward the end of oneof the [spring leaves.

Figure, 1 is a 'front elevation of an auto View on the line is aperspective view of one off In the drawings,the numerall designates Qthe sidebars in an automobile chassis, or.

the sills in any other vehicle body. The axle for the'vehicle'isindicated by the numeral,

2, and a semieelliptical spring, in accordance with this invention,broadly-by the numeral 3. As disclosed bythe several figures of the'drawings, my improvedispring 3 has its leaves constructedof any desirednumber of spring metal bars arranged 1n superimposed relation; 7 Thealternating sidebars in the leaves of all of the series, are of a lessthickness than the remaining bars. These re? duced bars are indicatedfor distinction by the numeral 4', and thethicker bars by the numeral5'. By providing the thinner bars 4, it will be noted that the verticaljoints provided by. the abutting bars in the different series ofleaves'are-broken,:that is,fthe, jointsv between the lower bars aredisposed centrally between the next'superimposed series of bars. Thisadds to the spring as a whole, and likewisetends to'hold the bars ofth'e'dilferent leaves properly positioned with respectto each other.

'All'of the bars, at the center thereof, are

bent outwardly at opposite angles, providing at the center thereofsubstantially V-shaped' spaces, and in thesev spaces there are laced I-sha'ped spacer block's'6, the said bloc s being, of course, disposed instaggered relation with respect to each other, but all of which beingprovided with openings that align, and through these aligning openingsthere is passed the tie bolt 7 To the opposite sides of the tie bolt 7the springs are engaged by the usual U bolts 8 that pass through theflanges of the axle 2 and have their ends engaged by the usual nuts.

The short leaf of the spring that rests directly on the axle isindicated by the numeral 9 and is in the nature of a solid plate, whilethe side rods of the remaining leaves have their ends rounded uponthemselves to'provide eyes 10. All of the eyes, except the eyes on theupper leaf are extended downwardly and are received next to ears 11formed on the sides 12 of clips 13. The connecting elements between the.sides of the clips are indicated by the numeral 14;, the same beingdisposed adjacent to the ears 11 and being in spaced relation so thatthe eyes 10 of the spring leaves may pass therebetween. The ears 11have. openings to align with the openingsin the eyes and through theseopenings there are passed the usual bolts 15 engaged by nuts. The sides12, adjacent to their upper edges are also provided with aligningopenings through which are passed bolts 16 engaged by the usual nuts; Ofcourse, the

' clips vary in lengths so that the bolts 15 and 16 will contact withboth the upper and lower series of the spring leaves.

For distinction, the upturned eyes on the ends of the upper spring leafare indicated by the numeral 17. These eyes are larger than the eyes 10,and receive therethrough bronze bushings 18that form the cores of steeltubes 19. Passingthrough the bronze bearing on the outer end of thespring and through openings in the outer end of the side bars 1 of thevehicle frame there are the usual bolts 20. The side bars have pivotallysecured thereto depending shackles 21 provided with the usual eyes oropenings, and passing through the bronze bushings on the inner end ofthe spring and through the shackles 21 there are the usual bolts 22. Ofcourse, these bolts are engaged by nuts.

WVith my improved spring construction, a uniform atomic metal structureis attained with a material increase of the frictional or braking actionbetween the several leaves constituting the spring. The springconstruction not only absorbs the shocks and jars imparted to springleaves of the usual formation, but likewise.absorbs, by yielding,transverse torsional or racking strains without liability of breakage orfracture to the bars constituting the spring. In this connection it willbe apparentthat should one of the bars break, the same may be readilyreplaced without substituting an entirely new leaf therefor, and it isbelieved that the foregoing description, when taken in connection withthe drawings will fully set forth the construction and advantages of myimprovement to those skilled inithe art to which such inventions relate.I consider it necessary to add, however, that the improvement is not tobe restricted to the structural features herein set forth, but islimited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having described the invention, I claim 1. A vehicle springcompo-sed of.a series of superimposed leaves, each leaf being formed of a series ofbars placed side by side and the bars of each leafbeing'disposedcentrally with respect to the meeting sides of the bars therebelow. c

2. A vehicle spring composed of a series of superimposed leaves, eachleaf being formed of a series of bars and the alternating outer bars onthe sides of the leaves being of a less thickness than the remainingbars, for the purpose set forth.

3. A vehicle sprlng composed of a series of superimposed leaves, eachleaf being formed of a series of bars and thealternating outer bars onthe sides of the leavesbe ing of a less thickness.tl 1 anthe remainingbars, and the ends of the outer bars of each an eye, forthe purpose leafformed with set forth.

1. A. vehicle spring composed of a series of superimposed leaves, eachleaf being formed of a series of bars an'dfthe alternat ing outer barson the sides of the leaves being of a less thickness than the remainingbars, the ends of the outer bars of each leaf formed with an eye, clipshaving an open bottom receiving the ends of all but the upper leaf,binding means passing through the clips and eyes and other binding meanspassing through the'clips and overlying the top leaf of the spring.

5. A vehicle spring composed of a series of superimposed leaves, eachleaf being formed of a series of bars, each bar of each series being ofan equal length, and the alternating outer bars on the sides of theleaves being of a less thickness than the remaining bars, and the endsof the outer bars of each leaf formed with an eye, for the purposesetforth.

6. A vehicle spring composed of a series of superimposed leaves, eachleaf being formedof a series of bars and the alternating outer bars onthe sides of the leaves being of a less thickness than the remainingbars, and means surrounding and connecting" the leaves for holding thebars constitutingthe 7 EDWARD A. FOSTER.

